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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24203758">A million dreams (for the world we're gonna make)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyleo/pseuds/artsyleo'>artsyleo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>EastEnders (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Deaf Character, Fluff, Good Parent Ben Mitchell, Light Angst, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:34:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,521</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24203758</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyleo/pseuds/artsyleo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben and Lexi have a sleepover with Callum, and Ben realises how damn in love he is.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Mitchell &amp; Lexi Pearce, Callum "Halfway" Highway &amp; Lexi Pearce, Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>87</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A million dreams (for the world we're gonna make)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Callum was nervous. Shit, he was nervous, and he couldn’t even work out why. Lexi loved him- Ben had reassured him of that on so many occasions, and Callum loved spending time with the energetic little girl, but this was different. Jay and Lola had gone out of town for the weekend, something to do with the funeral parlour that they’d managed to turn into a weekend getaway, which meant that Lexi would be staying with Ben, at Callum’s flat. This would be the first time Lexi had stayed over with Callum, and, of course, Callum was nervous. What kind of thing would she want to do, or eat, or watch? Would the bed be comfortable enough, or did she need a nightlight? Callum’s mind had been whirring into overdrive all day, torturing himself with what-ifs. In reality, he knew that it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as Callum was imagining. Lexi was fairly easily pleased- popcorn, a soft blanket and a Disney movie and she’d be happy for days. He’d stacked up all the DVDs he had in front of the TV, and the cupboards were filled with snacks (he’d definitely spent more than was strictly necessary, but he definitely took after Ben when it came to spoiling the little girl). Ben had texted a few minutes ago saying that he was heading over with Lexi now, and at this point Callum’s hands had started to sweat. Just then, his phone buzzed with another text from Ben;</p><p>Stop it, I know you’re worrying. Lex is really excited. It’ll be fine, I promise x</p><p>A blush climbed up Callum’s cheeks- Ben knew him so painfully well.</p><p>-</p><p>“Callum!”</p><p>“Hey, princess!” Callum laughed, grunting when Lexi ran straight into his legs. He pulled the girl up carefully, sitting her on his hip. “You alright?”</p><p>“Yeah! Daddy said we can watch Disney films together, do you like Disney films?” Lexi asked, her voice fast and excited.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, I do. How about you go put your stuff in the spare room, yeah?” Callum smiled, putting Lexi carefully back onto the floor. She nodded, and grabbed her bag, running over to the spare room. When Callum looked back up, Ben had this blissed out smile on his face.</p><p>“Hey,” Callum grinned, wrapping his arms around Ben’s shoulders. “What you smiling at?”</p><p>“I love you,” Ben said instead, pressing his lips firmly to Callum’s. Something about that- them kissing there, with Lexi in the other rom- it felt oddly domestic. Any other day, it might have gone further, Callum’s warm palms on Ben’s cheeks, their lips pressing gently together, but right now they were both content like that. Lexi ran in soon after, pulling them away from each other.</p><p>“Daddy! I wanna watch ‘The Lion King’!” she laughed, a huge smile on her face. She might have been young, but she knew what it looked like when her daddy was happy.</p><p>“Oh, yeah, that’s a good choice!” Ben said, pressing a kiss to his daughter’s forehead. Let’s go and get it set up then, yeah?”</p><p>-</p><p>The whole living room now was dappled in a soft light, filtering through the curtains from the street lamp outside. Callum had turned on a couple of lamps around the room earlier, ensuring that it was still bright enough for Ben to see if they wanted to talk. The three of them had been curled up on Callum’s sofa all day, Disney films on an almost constant loop, all ones that Ben pretended not to love (he had to consciously stop himself from singing along with the subtitles for fear of getting it wrong, whereas Callum unashamedly sang most of the words with Lexi). It had begun with ‘The Lion King’, then ‘Tangled’ (which, as it turned out, Callum adored- that was information Ben would have to store away for future reference) and now, ‘The Little Mermaid’ was playing, the bright colours of the animation throwing odd shadows across the room. To anyone else, it looked like a random selection, but Lexi had spent a while poring over the DVD cases, deciding which to put on, and Ben knew what that meant. His daughter had a Disney film for just about every mood. The Little Mermaid was a happy film; it had been her favourite since she was little (Ben recalled with a certain amount of fatherly love many evenings spent watching it with a much younger Lexi). Now, there were DVDs scattered across Callum’s living room floor, and the three of them were curled up on the sofa together. Callum’s arm was wrapped around his shoulder, his fingers stroking gently over the skin of his shoulder, just under his jumper. Lexi was strewn across both of their laps, her head in Ben’s, and her legs across Callum’s covered over by a soft pink blanket. It was an oddly domestic scene. Ever since him and Callum had started to stay together more often, he noticed it more and more, their little moments of bliss, when everything else- all the fights, the struggles and hurdles of their relationship- went out the window. In those moments, nothing else mattered but the two of them. Yet, now, all of those domestic moments included Lexi too, and wasn’t that the perfect picture.</p><p>There was a soft tap on his shoulder, and he turned to look at Callum, who was smiling gently. He pointed to Ben’s lap. Lexi’s eyes had fluttered closed, and now she had curled up even further, a protective arm clutched around Ben’s thigh. The other hand was curled up in the soft fabric of the blanket, and her little chest was rising and falling gently.</p><p>(Ben tried to ignore the small stab of pain that went through him when he thought about the fact that she was probably letting out cute little snores, but he couldn’t hear her.)</p><p>“You want to put something else on?” Ben whispered, nodding to the Disney film still playing on the TV.</p><p>“Nah,” Callum grinned. “Quite like this one, really.”</p><p>The childish smile that played across Callum’s face then made affection burn through Ben like a fire, so much so that he leant forward, careful not to disturb the sleeping girl in his lap, and pressed his lips against Callum’s.</p><p>-</p><p>They were just about to settle Lexi back into her own bed when she started to frown in her sleep, curling further into Ben protectively. At first, Ben thought it was just because he’d moved, but then Callum nudged him, a frown on his face.</p><p>“She’s muttering something,” Callum said. Ben reached a hand down to sweep through her hair, but as soon as he moved the hair out of her face, Ben noticed the tears tracing down her cheeks.</p><p>“Princess?” Ben said gently, stroking the little girl’s hair. She soon stirred, opening her eyes and throwing her arms around Ben’s shoulders immediately.</p><p>“Hey, Lex. What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”</p><p>He felt Lexi nod into his shoulder, her arms pulling him impossibly closer. Callum looked on, then offered Ben a ‘wait there’ gesture. Ben just held the crying girl in his arms, wishing that he could hear her, just wanting the comfort of her voice, to be able to know what was wrong and how he could fix it. Eventually, the wet patch on his shoulder began to dry, and Callum emerged from further in the flat. He was holding one of Lexi’s favourite toys in his hands, one that he instantly recognised – it was a small reindeer, the one that Callum had gotten for her last Christmas that she’d been inseparable from since - and a bright pink mug in the other. Callum must have called her, because she reluctantly lifted her head from the crook of Ben’s shoulder, her arms still clutching him protectively.</p><p>“Princess? Look at me, please,” Ben pleaded, shaking her shoulder gently. Lexi looked around to him, taking her arms from around Ben’s shoulder for a minute to sign a word out to him, one letter at a time.</p><p>Nightmare.</p><p>“I’m sorry, baby, but you’re safe, I promise. Look what Callum got for you, hey?” Ben smiled gently, pointing around to Callum. Lexi smiled at him, taking the mug in careful hands and clutching the teddy tight to her chest. Callum reached for the remote, playing the movie again, and Lexi resumed her position, splayed across the two of them. Soon after Lexi had fallen into a sound sleep again, Ben felt the telltale signs of Callum following suit, little snores huffing out against his shoulder. Just before he fell asleep too, he allowed himself a moment there, in that perfect reality- his daughter in his lap, and the man he loved on his shoulder. There was a time when he couldn’t even bare to dream of the future, and when he did, it felt like it was something far off, something unattainable for him. A perfect existence with his daughter and boyfriend- perhaps his husband, someday, but maybe now he was getting ahead of himself.</p><p>Ben hadn’t dared to dream of that future with Callum, but maybe now he could.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Oh fuck this is so fluffy and I LOVE IT<br/>this was written for a prompt from yorit1 on tumblr, so go check them out :) hope you enjoyed this, and stay safe! <br/>Leo (artsy-highway on tumblr) &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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